The Ministry of Education is expected to come to a decision by the end of the week on how to cover the staff needs of schools across the country. It has been estimated that about 1,000 teachers will be needed to cover teaching needs.
According to a report in Ta Nea, the Ministry has considered hiring unemployed teachers through municipal community service programs on five-month contracts to fill in for the gaps.
This scenario however presents some major problems, since the community service programs are operated by local government bodies, while the recruitment and appointment of teachers is handled by the Education Ministry.
Earlier thoughts of recruiting teachers on a volunteer basis in exchange for extra points when applying for jobs in the public sector have been set aside, as they have proven to be rather controversial.
